Talking to the World from Africa

Talking to the World from AfricaLome Togo West AfricaThursday, August 31, 2006

In nine year of travel, I have been ambushed by most problems with Telephones, Emails, Fax, Postal Letters, or going to see a person to talk.

I have many persons complain about my spelling, grammar, and many other of my idiosyncrasies and of course my opinions. I am always grateful that I was just able to get the word out, I am alive and life is good on the other side of the planet.

Africa has upped the ante, I must put more money on the table, and I will lose more.

There are a percentage of emails written then are never read.

There are a percentage of calls that are never completed.

There is normal land mail that never arrives.

How does one know?How do I know my email arrived?

I have learned, I know only when a person replies to them, if no reply, no thank you, not comment, then I assume it did not arrive, or more correctly the person the other end does not care.

AOL is probably the worst form of Email on the planet, I cringe when I see an email address from an AOL account. I think, ok, the person does not know, maybe if I write back, they will get the reply.

Many of my longest and best answers to emails end up in a Bulk box, never read. Then there the too smart University Email IT staff or the Corporate IT that thinks, nobody in Africa writes our company, therefore I will block all the junk mails.

I will never forget, my Grandmother was dying, she was in the Hospital. My mother knows or carries my email address with her, she borrowed the computer of a nurse, wrote an email to her son, your Grandmother is dying…

She wrote on a borrowed email account, the reply address was from the nurse.

I received the email.

I always think, and remember. I think of all the anti-spam, anti-junk email systems that would have refused this email. Placed it in a box, hidden it away, it is from a person you do not know, I would have missed one of the most important emails of my life.

I am in a hurry to open the door, but I also want to close the door. My mother, father, my friends have first priority. I do 10 times the work to make their lives easier. My mother and father have been writing me for years. I am so happy. They have a Hotmail account, they have never had an AOL account. Hotmail is not as good as Yahoo.com, but it is ok, it works.

All these companies guarantee to stop the junk, the never will admit, and you will never know, how many they blocked, stopped, disallowed because they decide for you, this is not a good email.

Africa is blocked more than any continent on the planet, I never know, I can only hope, I must write, call, and double check to insure that an email to a friend is received. I love it when a person replies and says thanks, an acknowledgement of the email, I know, yes, I have a connection.

CaringI was talking to a Volunteer, she believes she cares for people, I believe she cares about herself. Sadly, she wants to feel powerful, she cares about feeling powerful, she wants to feel in control, she wants to control something. She came to Africa under the delusion she was helping them, she found some people she could control, help she thinks, but someone who would listen. She purchased with money, what she thinks is people that love her. I am sure; they will write here, call her, email, communicate, thank her and invite her back to visit.Duh, of course they will invite her back, it was like winning the lottery, she gave them free stuff, free this, free that, free money, she purchased someone to care about her, but she is delusional, she wanted to control them.

Caring and love is proven when there is no money involved, no agenda, the person believes, everyone deserves respect. (Note, not everyone deserves to be listened too. If they are respectful, then maybe yes.)

I kept trying to repeat the word,- CARE -

I look for a person that cares, about me, about themselves, about the world. I know it is impossible save a person with money. People get what they deserve or request from life, no more, and no less. Most want to hit the lottery and not work, the lottery is big in Africa by the way, one on every corner.

I write so many emails, and very few reply, I have people that ask for information, request information, and think I owe them a reply. I do not owe them a reply, but I do try to give for nothing, because I do care. Nevertheless, I do not answer all emails, most just want to take, I can feel who is trying to take, and they do not get replies. They are bad karma.

However, caring is what I look for, does the person on the other end care?

Africa is an interesting continent, I suppose there are levels of caring, I would say the UNITED Nations Human Development Index is an index explaining care.

Norway is on topUSA is 8Togo is 143Sierra Leone is 177Niger is 176All the former French Colonies mostly are at the bottom.

Development is like an email, a person that cares feels all persons deserves the respect of reply, knowing this is impossible, but does try, and then worries about whether they made a mistake, did it work, did I do my best. The person, who does not care, always assumes the other person make the error, they are perfect…

I will send an email three times… maybe.I will up the ante, I will call the person.I will follow up with the call.

I have done this with man professors about the issue of Malnutrition, I assume now most do not care, most people will help good energy whether there is anything in it for them or not. A good person will encourage a good thing, or help if possible. No one is that busy, they just do not care.

Each continents has different levels of caring.Some continents care about their people.Africa is on the bottom, the leaders seem to not care about their people, they only care how much they can take.

If I love my nieces, my nephews, I will encourage them to be men and women. To have pride, work hard, and demand they be respectful, both to me, and to others. I will be a good example, and then hopefully they see this and follow the examples.

Takers and givers, communication with people is harsh over the internet, it is full of takers, and the givers are small. For every good advice I get, I get 100 asking for something, one-way street for the most part, not a two way street. As if I am sitting here in Africa, waiting to answer their questions, somehow I make money by caring about them. I do care about them, but I care more for the ones that care about me, care about themselves and in the end, care that about their fellow man. I suppose it is to love thy neighbor as thyself, good advice.

My blog, my web site is a business, but it is also advice, help, and it tries to care.

I spend great amounts of time, trying to figure out a way to guarantee the person on the end that cares about the world, wants to help, get through to me if they want. I try to remove the person that only wants something to take from me from my world. Bad Karma.

Often the person, who cares the most, understands the least about how to email, how to write, how to communicate. They feel, and know, they do feel like taking the time of another person. This is the person that should write, the one that says, no he or she is busy, I will not ask that stupid question or better yet, that really smart advice, they think will annoy a person, or bother them.

I am tired; I have been working 10 times harder to blog and use the internet in Africa. My failure rate is high. The big problem is first Africa, they do not care if the Internet works, and they just want the money first. Second is the world does not want to hear from Africa, so they block the emails. Nobody knows, the Telephone Companies, the Providers. AOL and Corporations have made the decision, do not care about Africa, and do not listen. I think they are right, why care, Africa does not care about Africa, why would I care.

It is not that simple, a person still should listen, maybe that one person that does care about someone beside themselves is writing, calling. Everything comes down to care; giving money is not the problem. Money is not the solution, it is finding a way to convince cultures to care about their own people, to care if their children are ok, not all are meant to live, some are meant to die, it is normal. However, the one that wishes to thrive should be encouraged.

I have too much time to think, obviously. HeheheIf I cared about money, I would put up more picture in this blog, I care about ideas, hopes, solutions, then I care about money. In the end, I know 100 percent, what goes around, comes around.

Aaagh. I am reading an email from my Nephew, he has an EXTREMELY stupid comcast.net email account. It is almost as stupid as a free University Email. Email can be forever or it can be dysfunctional, I know this Comcast account will change, one day he will change emails. This knowledge does not make me want to write my Nephew back, but I will, knowing he does know…. Care? Caring is about making sure the door is open. Yahoo.com or Gmail.com is the emails accounts to get now, trash them AOL and Comcast and enter a functional world. Get a Yahoo or Gmail and slowly over YEARS move them corporate emails, Comcast, AOL and all the other joke emails to a good sound safe system. Yahoo.com is number one and Google.com is big for a reason, they make sense. For a traveler, an email is the lifeline to the rich world, maybe sane world. Although working that much is not sane. Talking to the World from Africa